Bedroom Yoga
by starbuckfaerie21
Summary: Joel comes home late after Alex has already gone to bed.


Bedroom Yoga

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, I own neither _Saving Hope_ nor Daniel Gillies.

 **Pairing:** Alex & Joel (Jalex)

 **Rating: T**

 **Summary:** Joel comes home late after Alex has already gone to bed.

Joel Goran unlocked the front door and went into the house after midnight on a Wednesday evening in December. He knew the kids would already be asleep at this hour. But part of him hoped that Alex would still be awake. They'd both been so busy between shifts at the hospital and the kids, that it felt like they'd barely seen each other in weeks.

 _It felt like they barely had enough time to kiss each other goodnight, let alone make love._

 _And he missed her._

 _God, he missed her._

Joel closed his eyes for a moment, suddenly overcome with the desire to be near Alex. She was all he could think about as he hung up his coat, locked the front door behind him, and removed his boots.

 _Alex Reid._

 _His wife._

 _The mother of his children._

 _The love of his life._

 _He longed to touch her and feel the softness of her skin beneath his fingertips._

 _He needed to kiss her and feel the familiarity of her lips against his._

 _He wanted to fall asleep, tangled in her arms exhausted from their lovemaking._

But as Joel walked quietly up the stairs, looking in on Luke, Charlotte, and Theo, who were all fast asleep, on his way to the master bedroom, he had a feeling his beautiful wife, was already asleep as well.

There were no lights on in the house.

No empty wineglasses anywhere.

And the bedroom was silent as Joel entered it, pulling off his clothes and throwing them in the hamper as he headed directly to the shower.

Ten minutes later, he came back out into the bedroom, and was about to fall into bed beside Alex when he realized that she was sleeping on _his_ side of the bed.

Joel smiled to himself, and was about to leave a trail of butterfly kisses along her spine, until he pulled back the covers and saw the ice pack against her back.

He pressed a kiss against the back of her neck instead, and whispered, "Hey Reid, are you all right?"

At the sound of his voice in her ear, she stirred, "Joel, baby, you're home." She said, softly, her voice thick with the haze of sleep, the words running together.

"Yes ma'am I most certainly am." Joel replied, still standing over Alex as she lay prone on his side of their bed, on his side, her gorgeous dark hair that had _finally_ begun to grow back after her surgery fell in gentle waves over _his_ pillow.

"How was your day? She mumbled, her words muffled by the pillow.

"Long." He replied, kissing the back of her neck once more and exhaling against her skin. "How about yours?"

"Same," Alex whispered, turning her head, slightly and reaching one arm out to pull him towards her. "Come to bed. Your must be exhausted."

Despite the darkness, Joel flashed her one of his trademark grins. "I would but it seems like someone has made herself quite comfortable on my side. Were you so exhausted that you forgot which side of the bed to sleep on?"

Alex shook her head, still reaching for him in the darkness. "No. This side smells like you. I missed you. I was going to move when you got home. But now, I'm so tired I don't think I could move if I tried."

Joel laughed, still standing over her as she lay in bed, "The feeling is completely mutual, Reid. I've missed you too. I can't remember the last time we had a dirty weekend."

"It's been too long." Alex whispered, still trying to pull him to her, where she lay on the bed. She managed to kiss his bare shoulder, but Joel knew she was trying to distract him so he wouldn't ask his next question.

"Yes it _definitely_ has, Doctor Reid. Would you mind telling me why you're sleeping with an ice pack?"

Alex shrugged, "Because my husband wasn't available."

 _Alex Reid, you saucy minx._

Joel smiled, but he vowed not to let her beauty or her wit distract him.

 _If his wife was hurt he wanted to know about it._

"Very funny, Reid. I'm serious. What happened?"

"I was transporting a patient on a cart. One of the wheels got stuck. I must have pulled it the wrong way because by the time I got it moving again it was going one way and I was going the other. By the time I got home, my back hurt so much, there were tears in my eyes.

Joel winced and gave her a sympathetic look, "Ouch." He whispered.

He was all too familiar with how unruly those hospital carts could be.

 _Especially if you were rushing during an emergency._

 _Especially if you were pushing it alone._

 _Which if he knew his wife, and he did, was probably exactly what she was doing._

"Yeah." Alex answered softly, "Hence the ice."

Joel nodded, pulling back the covers, already in full orthopedic surgeon mode. "Let me take a look at it."

Alex shook her head, "No, Joel, it's fine. We're both tired. Just come to bed."

"Alex, you could've seriously hurt yourself. Just give me two seconds to figure out what's wrong."

Alex sighed, knowing she wasn't winning this argument. "Okay fine, Doctor Goran you win."

Alex could hear the smile in his voice, even in the darkness as he replied, "Why thank you, Doctor Reid. I promise to be gentle."

As Joel spoke he pulled back the covers and gently moved Alex completely onto her stomach so he could examine her back.

"Are you flirting with me or examining me, Doctor Goran?"

"A little bit of both to be perfectly honest, Doctor Reid. Inhale and exhale for me when I tell you to, okay?"

"Mhmmm." Alex answered, and he knew she was drifting off to sleep.

He pulled the ice pack away and set it on the nightstand. He was mesmerized by the sight of his beautiful wife even as he touched her back looking for signs of serious injury.

"Inhale," Joel whispered, once again kissing the back of her neck.

 _Her long gorgeous neck._

 _The space between her neck and her shoulder that he wanted nothing more than to kiss at that precise moment._

"Exhale," Joel urged softly as his steady hands moved down her spine. "And tell me if anything hurts. Alex, love are you still with me?"

 _The curve of her shoulder._

 _Her perfectly beautiful spine felt, well perfect beneath his hands._

She was silent until his hands reached the middle of her back. Then she jumped a little and whispered. "That hurts."

"Sorry, love." Joel whispered placing his lips over the area in a gesture of apology. "I'd get an X-Ray tomorrow. But it doesn't feel like you have any slipped or bulging discs. You probably just strained it. Can you stand up so I can get a better look?"

"Not right now. I'm too tired." She replied, pressing her face deeper into the pillow.

Joel chuckled, "Fair enough. You know your core muscles might just need some strengthening."

At this Alex lifted her head to look at her husband, "You mean lifting the baby at least fifty times a day doesn't count?"

Joel shook his head. But before he could speak, Alex went on, "Joel, baby, I love you. But if you kept me awake all this time just to tell me I should be doing Pilates, I'm going to kill you."

Joel flashed her another one of his trademark grins, and it was only then that he finally climbed in on the opposite side of the bed and pulled her towards him. "No, Doctor Reid, I think I'd like to prescribe something else."

It was Alex's turn to smile as she pressed her lips to the mole behind his ear and whispered, "Oh really? And what's that, Doctor Goran?"

"How about a little bedroom yoga?" Joel answered, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lips.

The sound of Alex's laughter made his whole body tingle with desire.

 _God, I love this woman._

 _She was everything he ever needed._

 _She was everything he ever wanted._

 _She was his everything._

And he was reminded of why the moment she pulled him into her arms and whispered, "I think I just got my second wind."

 _His wish to fall asleep tangled in his wife's arms exhausted from their lovemaking was going to come true after all._


End file.
